"Mother…what are you doing here? What happened?"
I couldn't even form words. I was so ecstatic! My baby! She was going to be okay! I gently brushed her hair off of her face and kissed her cheek.
"Oh my Panda! I am so glad to see you!"
She smiled weakly at me and tried to swallow. She looked at me and whispered " Where's Lee? I need to see Lee. He needs to know that I am okay."
I nodded and told her that I would go see if we could find him. I knew that he was working with the local police in trying to find the man who shot my daughter. It made me very proud of Lee. He would do anything for my little girl and fight for her when she couldn't.
About 30 minutes later I heard Lee outside the door arguing with the dr. I rushed out to give the doctor a hug and tell Lee how Amanda was.
" Oh Lee, she looks beautiful. Do you want to see her?" Lee nodded and snuck his way into the room.
I walked off with the doctor for a few minutes. I came back to see Amanda reaching to kiss Lee and I heard her say something about no honeymoon. WHAT? Was I hearing things? Did they run off to California and get married and NOT tell me? OH MY GOD. If they did then this was supposed to be their honeymoon. My heart sank for them.
I watched as Amanda fell asleep and Lee leaned over and whispered " I love you, Mrs. Stetson."
I stood in the doorway and made it clear to Lee that I was standing there. He blushed as he realized I was standing there. He kissed Amanda once more and walked over to me. I wrapped my arms around him and said " Our girl is going to be okay. She's really going to be okay."
Lee nodded and hugged me tighter. " I got him, Dotty. The slime that did this to her. I had to. He's not going to see the outside of a prison cell for a very long time."
I nodded. "Thank you Lee. I know that Amanda appreciates this. I do too. More than I can say."
Lee's face finally started to relax as he realized that Amanda would be okay. "I would do anything for her. For you and the boys. I love you all. "
He hugged me tighter and the past few days finally caught up with this quiet giant of a man. He silently cried as we both came to the realization that our Amanda would be okay.
I decided not to press the marriage conversation. It wasn't the right time. They would tell me when they were ready. I just hope they know what they are doing. I sighed knowing that Lee Stetson wasn't going anywhere. And that made me very happy.